Although cellular phones are now relatively small in size and light in weight, they are still too bulky or too fragile for use in certain situations. For example, adults who engage in recreational activities such as running, biking, cardiovascular or strength training at a health club, and the like are unlikely to carry a cell phone during the performance of these activities.
In some cases, the aversion to carrying the cell phone is due to the nature of the activity itself. For example, a runner might wish to avoid the discomfort of the device bouncing about in a pocket. In some other cases, the clothing that is worn during the activity is ill-suited for carrying a cell phone. In particular, the garment might not have any pockets or, if it does, they might not be suitable for preventing a cellular phone from falling out during the activity, thereby posing a risk of loss or damage to the phone.
While an obvious solution to this problem is to reduce the size of the cellular phone, this is not practical for various reasons.
Specifically, and among any other considerations, ergonomics militate against such a reduction in the size of cell phones. For example, the buttons in a keypad cannot be reduced further in size or placed closer together than in currently available cellular phones without substantially hampering a user's ability to quickly and accurately enter the digits of a phone number. Also, a reduction in the size of cell phones will inevitably reduce the size of the display, which is counter to the current trend of maximizing display size to facilitate multimedia and other capabilities that are being incorporated into cell phones. Furthermore, a reduction in the size of a cell phone will reduce talk time between recharges, which is unacceptable.
Furthermore, experience has shown that certain markets, such as the United States, prefer cell phones that have a certain minimum weight and size that is based predominantly on the “feel” of the phone. This preferred range of size and weight, which is reflected in phones that are currently available for the U.S., is larger and heavier than the size and weight range of phones that are sold in most Asian markets. Consequently, it is not a technological limitation, but rather human-factors issues, that restrict further reduction in the size of cell phones.
Another circumstance for which currently-available cell phones are not well suited is certain emergency situations. This is particularly ironic, since this would seem to be the raison d'etre for the cell phone—to contact help in the case of an emergency. But, the unfortunate reality is that there is a substantial likelihood that a cell phone will not be available to its hapless owner in certain emergency situations.
In particular, if the emergency arises as a result of a sports-related injury, the phone might be unavailable because, as discussed above, the injured party didn't bring it along. If the emergency arises, for example, due to a serious car accident, the phone might not be readily accessible to the accident victim because:
in the panic of the moment, the victim is disoriented and forgets where the phone is located;
it might have been unsecured on a center console or in another favored location in the car, with the result that the phone is thrown to another unknown location in the car during the accident; or
the victim cannot reach the phone because they are pinned by a collapsed steering wheel, etc.
As a consequence, there is a need for a cell phone that has a form factor that is better suited for use in situations, such as those described above, in which currently available cell phones are ill-suited for use.